On Friday, I taught you how to look at chords according to the number of notes they have.

This introduced us to names like “tetrads,” “pentads,” “hexads,” “heptads,” and of course, the “triad.” These are names for collection of notes played at the same time (i.e. - “chords”).

Today, I want to talk about the other side of things — the names of collection of notes played one after the other (i.e. - “scales”). And specifically, I want to focus on the tetrachord.

A tetrachord is a series of four notes, usually played one after the other. A major tetrachord is a series of four notes, in ascending order, separated by the following sequence: whole step - whole step - half step.

In other words, if I start at “C” and add a whole step, that gives me “D.”

So far, I have “C - D.”

In following the “tetrachordal” formula, I add another whole step from “D.” That gives me “E.”

So far, I have “C - D - E.”

And lastly, I add a half step since my formula is “whole step - whole step - half step.”

That gives me “F” at the end.

Altogether, “C - D - E - F.”

This may look familiar to many of you. It is the same pattern that starts your major scales!

Recall my little acronym I made up several years ago to help people remember the major scale…

Why Won’t He Wear White When Hot?

W W H W W W H

(This is my way of getting you to memorize the “whole step / half step” relationships that make up the major scale. You won’t find it taught anywhere else like this, I promise…)

If you’re really paying close attention, you may notice not ONE major tetrachord, but TWO!

W W H W W W H

In other words, a major scale is just two major tetrachords separated by a whole step.

[C major tetrachord] - whole step - [G major tetrachord]

So if you know all 12 major tetrachords, this can be another way to remember scales quickly:

C major tetrachord: C D E F
G major tetrachord: G A B C
D major tetrachord: D E F# G
A major tetrachord: A B C# D
E major tetrachord: E F# G# A
B major tetrachord: B C# D# E
F# major tetrachord: F# G# A# B

(switch to flats)

Gb major tetrachord: Gb Ab Bb Cb
Db major tetrachord: Db Eb F Gb
Ab major tetrachord: Ab Bb C Db
Eb major tetrachord: Eb F G Ab
Bb major tetrachord: Bb C D Eb
F major tetrachord: F G A Bb
C major tetrachord: C D E F

Do you see what I see?

Gosh! Where do I start? There’s so many patterns and observations to make.

First off, I was moving in “FIFTHS,” just like the circle of fifths chart below:

Secondly, notice that the next “tetrachord” in line finishes the previous one. So if you actually read the “C major tetrachord” out loud and then the “G major tetrachord,” that’s the entire C major scale.

Same goes for the G and D tetrachords… and the D and A tetrachords — on and on.

Another thing worth pointing out is the first note of one tetrachord is always the last note of the next tetrachord (when moving in fifths like I did above). So two tetrachords joined by a whole step always equal an octave.

Fourthly, it further proves how related major keys are on the circle of fifths chart. Now you know that they also share tetrachords!

Fifthly, it points out how ANYTHING can be broken down to smaller parts. Maybe you’ve mastered major scales already but if you look at other unfamiliar scales this way, it should be much easier.

For example, I haven’t talked about trichords yet but as the name implies, it’s a series of 3 notes just like a tetrachord is a series of 4 notes.

2 trichords separated by a whole step create a minor pentatonic scale. Check it out…

A trichord:
A - C - D

E trichord:
E - G - A

Together, “A - C - D - E - G - A.”

And, since minor and major are related, you can easily start this scale from C to get a regular pentatonic scale (i.e. - “major pentatonic”).

A - C - D - E - G - A - C - D - E - G - A

(Just like we can take a C major pentatonic scale and play the same notes from “A” to “A,” we can take the minor pentatonic scale and play the same notes from “C” to “C” to get a C major pentatonic scale.)

And it doesn’t stop there…

There are pentachords, hexachords, and others. I’ll talk about those in other posts.

For now, I hope this helps to give you another perspective.

Until next time —

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About a month ago, I posted a lesson on how to play pentatonic scales. If you’re not familiar with the major pentatonic scale, it may be a good idea to check out that lesson first… then return here to learn its minor counterpart.

As you learned in that post, this scale is called “pentatonic” because it has 5 notes. “Penta” is an ancient Greek prefix meaning “five.”

We unraveled the numerical names for other scales too…

In this lesson, I want to take it a step further and show you one easy shortcut you can implement to also learn all your minor pentatonic scales. Yes, minor!

The thing about minor stuff is that there’s always a relative major key you can piggy back on.

Let me explain…

Just like you learned in this prior lesson, every major key has a relative minor key. This relative minor key pretty much shares EVERYTHING with this major key. They share the same notes in their scales (except you just start and end on different notes). They even share the same chords.

The secret is the 6th tone (this is nothing new… all of those past lessons I’ve linked to above cover this). To find the relative minor of any major key, you just go to the 6th tone. If you play the SAME EXACT major scale starting and ending on the 6th tone, there’s your minor scale! So if I basically play the C major scale, starting and ending on “A” instead of “C,” I’ll be playing an “A minor” scale. It’s as simple as that.

Well, the pentatonic scale works the same exact way! No joke!

Recall from my past lesson how to play a pentatonic scale…

You just play a major scale without the 4th and 7th tones.

That leaves you with:

1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 6

In the key of C major, that’s:

C D E G A
1 2 3 5 6

Repeated, it looks like this:

C D E G A C D E G A C D E G A C D E G A C D E G A

or

1 2 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 6

So, to play the minor pentatonic, you don’t change the notes you play (just like you don’t change the notes of the major scale when you play its relative minor scale). You just change your starting and ending points.

C D E G A C D E G [A C D E G] A C D E G A C D E G A C D E G A

1 2 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 [6 1 2 3 5] 6 1 2 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 6

So the “A minor pentatonic” scale is:

A C D E G

Repeated, it looks like this:

A C D E G A C D E G A…

So that you can see another one at work, here’s the “Eb major pentatonic” scale:

Eb F G Bb C

Here it is repeated:

Eb F G Bb C Eb F G Bb C Eb F G Bb C

Since “C” is the 6th tone and therefore the relative minor of “Eb,” let’s play the C minor pentatonic scale from the same notes above.

C minor pentatonic

C Eb F G Bb

C minor pentatonic (repeated)

C Eb F G Bb C Eb F G Bb C Eb F G Bb

Doesn’t that look like something to you?

YES YES YES!

The minor pentatonic scale is basically the blues scale with one missing note!

For example, the C blues scale is:

C Eb F Gb G Bb C

Versus the C minor pentatonic:

C Eb F G Bb C

*Note the flat 5th note in the blues scale example. That’s the only difference between a minor pentatonic scale and the blues scale.

So if you know your regular pentatonic scales, you know your minor pentatonic scales… and if you know your minor pentatonic scales, you know your blues scales!

Do you see these patterns? Once you start recognizing these systems and shortcuts, less and less of it will be memorization and more will be just understanding how to do something else from something that you already know… on the spot!

That’s the key! And that’s why the 300-pg home study course is so powerful. You learn the underlying systems, patterns, and shortcuts… not just memorization.

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Until next time —

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